by Willow Rose
Chapter 65
As soon as the kids were sent off to school, I returned to my bedroom and computer, leaving the two love birds alone in the kitchen. I couldn’t get away from there fast enough. My mom’s boyfriend, Irvin, seemed nice and all, but the situation over breakfast was awkward and unpleasant. Not that he wasn’t kind; he seemed like a sweet enough guy, but I couldn’t stop picturing him naked and as he reached over to grab a piece of toast from the breadbasket. I flinched, thinking about those fingers touching my mother.
It was icky. Just icky.
I rushed back to my room, leaving them to do whatever they needed to do, and hopefully, without me having to witness any of it again. My dad soon sent me the names of the two gamers as he found their real names, and I began my research. The first one was a twenty-three-year-old guy named Darnell Jackson who lived in Anaheim in California. The second was a young girl, only seventeen, named Carly Collins, living in Springfield, Illinois. Both were gamers and YouTubers, even though the girl didn’t have more than three thousand subscribers to her YouTube channel and a few hundred on Twitch. She wasn’t a big fish. The boy, Darnell, had more than a million subscribers on YouTube and twenty thousand on Twitch. Neither of the two was in the real big leagues, but I definitely leaned toward the boy. As if he had read my thoughts, my dad sent me a text:
BOY SEEMS LIKE THE BETTER FIT.
I nodded, thinking he was right. Darnell seemed like the Swatter’s type. He wanted it to be spectacular, to make sure a lot of people watched when the victims were swatted. The boy was definitely more prolific—a better catch. If the Swatter really had a reason to do this, a greater cause if you will, then Darnell would be his choice. He was also black, and the girl white. Not that the Swatter’s victims had all been people of color, but he seemed to prefer them.
I texted back:
I AGREE.
The question was what to do next. The Swatter had been playing with both of them the night before, and we knew from experience that somewhere between twenty-four hours to forty-eight hours later, they would be swatted. Somehow, I’d have to get ahold of both of them and just pray they’d listen. I just wished I could go to both of them and give them the message face to face. Getting a phone call from a crazy lady from Florida wasn’t exactly easy to take seriously.
Still, I had to try. My dad had found addresses and phone numbers for both of them, so I picked up my phone and dialed the first number. I was pleased that it had been so easy to get to them. Neither of them was very famous, not like Amal Bukhari, Jamal, or Liam’s son, so they were more accessible, which I found to be a little odd. It wasn’t how the Swatter usually rolled. These kids seemed almost like they were too small to become his victims. But then again, maybe he was just trying to make it easier on himself. To make sure nothing went wrong this time.
The phone rang once, it rang twice, and then a third time.
Voice mail.
I listened to Darnell’s voice as he told me to leave a message while wondering what to say. I couldn’t really tell him the truth since he’d only think I was crazy. I had to persuade him to call me back as soon as possible.
So I came up with a lie. I told him I was from Microsoft and that we had a deal we wanted to make with him. I also told him to call back asap, then hung up. I then called the other number and got ahold of a woman, whom I assumed had to be Carly’s mother.
“Yes?”
What the heck do I say?
“I’m looking for Carly Collins?”
“And who might I say it is?”
“My name is Eva Rae Thomas. I’m with Microsoft,” I continued in the same lie. “We’ve watched her videos on Twitch and want to invite her to an esport tournament. It’s invitation-only, and we need an answer right away, or her spot goes to someone else.”
Boy, you can lie about gaming.
“Carly isn’t home right now, but I’ll let her know you called.”
“It’s very important,” I said, beginning to feel desperate. “I need her to call me back as soon as possible. Could you maybe tell me where to reach her? I’m guessing she has her own phone?”
“Yes, she does, but we don’t give that number out to strangers calling our house,” her mother said.
“Of course not. Gotta be careful with those youngsters. But is there any chance she might call me back say before eight o’clock tonight? It’s extremely urgent that I get ahold of her before then.”
The mother went silent. “I’m not sure. She’s going to be out of town all weekend, but I’ll try.”
“Thank you.”
We hung up. I groaned, annoyed, and put the phone down. I tried Darnell’s phone again, but got the same voicemail once more and hung up with a growl. I couldn’t really afford to rush out to California today and spend the night, once again. This case was getting expensive, even though Liam had been nice and paid for me several times. While I was working on this, I hadn’t exactly been working on writing my next book as I was supposed to, and I had to get an extension on my deadline.
Meanwhile, my latest book telling the story of my father had a good run, but it wasn’t exactly a bestseller, and the money was getting low even though my mom pitched in. I should probably have been out looking for a job instead of trying to save all these people, but how could I? I had once sworn to protect and serve, and I couldn’t just not try and stop this guy. I wished I knew how to make my former colleagues at the FBI listen. Isabella Horne, my former supervisor at the FBI, had tried, but she had also told me that it wasn’t enough to start an investigation. They needed more. Opening an investigation was expensive, and they too had been told to cut back on unnecessary spending.
I couldn’t blame her, really. I knew how the bureau worked. She had her bosses to answer to and couldn’t just open up investigations here and there because an old colleague of hers had a hunch.
I stared at the computer screen at the two profiles on Twitch and YouTube, where I had found these gamers. I started an old video that Darnell had put out a couple of days ago, then watched him play Fortnite for a few minutes while feeling an odd sensation in the pit of my stomach.
Something was wrong here; I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was. It didn’t feel right.
I grabbed my phone and called my dad.
“It’s the girl,” I said. “I think he’s chosen the girl and not the boy.”
“Why? Darnell seems like more his type if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“I know, and that’s what I don’t like about it.”
“Why not?”
“He’s his type, yet he isn’t really big enough or interesting enough. The girl seems completely wrong for him, and that’s why I think it’s her.”
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“It’s too obvious. Darnell is too obvious.”
“Still not following.”
“He knows we’re onto him,” I said with worry. “We have to assume that by now. We stopped him in Fellsmere, both of his attempts. He even saw me there; he must have seen me on that camera on the computer. He knows I’m onto him, chasing him. So, he’ll want me to screw up because I won the last round. He wants me to pick the obvious one and miss his real target. That’s why I think it’s her and not him. Because she’s the most unlikely of the two.”
My dad sighed. “I have to admit, I think it’s getting a little too complicated, but you’re the expert. So, what do we do next? Did you get ahold of her? Does she know?”
Now, it was my turn to sigh. “I’m afraid not. I spoke to her mother and told her it was important that Carly called me back before eight o’clock tonight. But I’m not certain that she’ll take it seriously enough. I fear she won’t call back, and then where does that leave us? We can’t go to Illinois and make it in time or afford to fly across the country all the time. We don’t even know where she is. Her mom said she’d be out of town all weekend, but didn’t say where. She wouldn’t give me her cell phone number, either.”
“
Well, can’t really blame her, can we? You wouldn’t give Olivia’s number to just anyone who called, right?”
“Sure wouldn’t,” I said. “Do you think you can find her cell number somehow?”
“I can try, but it might take a while.”
I stared at the screen when I got a notification from YouTube that Carly had just uploaded a new video. I had subscribed to her channel a few hours ago, hoping she’d do just that.
“Wait a minute,” I said and clicked on the video. Carly’s young face tuned onto my screen. I turned the volume up and watched. Then I smiled.
“I know where she is. And it’s not that far away.”
Chapter 66
I ran a red light, and Liam screamed, clinging to his seat. His knuckles were turning white from the strain.
“What?” I asked, accelerating down 520, hitting the beachline toward Orlando. “Why are you screaming?”
“You ran a red light. That car to our right almost hit us.”
“But it didn’t,” I said, passing a truck and hitting close to one hundred miles per hour.
Liam went pale as I zigzagged between the cars. I ignored him.
“You’re not exactly a very good driver,” he said with a snort.
“What are you talking about? I’m an excellent driver.”
“Watch out for that car,” he screamed and covered his eyes as I drove up behind a red Toyota and hit the brakes right before I knocked into it. I shifted lanes and passed it on the inside. Liam finally dared to look again.
“Are we there yet?” he asked, sounding like my kids.
“Still about twenty minutes,” I said and tried to push my minivan harder. I had bought a new one with the insurance money I got from the old one that I lost on Amelia Island when driving through flooding due to Hurricane Damien. This minivan was five years old and had all sorts of things wrong with it, but it took me from A to B, and that was all I needed. Right now, I was definitely pushing it to its limits.
I had seen Carly as she filmed herself in a hotel in downtown Orlando. In the video, she said she was spending the evening at Disney World and that she was staying till the fireworks went off. There was no doubt in my mind that the Swatter would try and hit her while she was there. It had him written all over it. It would be spectacular, and it would be the center of media attention, no matter if she were hurt or not. Evacuating Disney World would count as a huge feather in the cap for him. It didn’t matter that she was a small fish. The story would be big enough in itself. The headlines pretty much wrote themselves.
I had chosen to bring Liam because I thought that if I approached Carly on my own, she might not want to listen, but by bringing a celebrity like him, I assumed my chance of success would be a lot higher. I was glad he was with me, even though he was whining like a baby in the seat next to me.
“Watch out!”
I zigzagged between the cars, and Liam barely breathed. I didn’t have time to care; he’d just have to get through it. I was getting to the girl, no matter what.
“Will we be there soon?” Liam asked again, his voice shrill.
“A couple minutes more,” I said as we arrived at the exit and I turned onto the ramp, but not slowing down much. “Hold on.”
Liam did. He held onto anything he could for dear life. The minivan skidded sideways up the ramp, but I managed to get it back on track, tires screeching and whining loudly. Liam let out another scream, and I floored the accelerator again as soon as it was back on track, pushing him back in his seat as we approached the entrance to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and could see the huge Mickey and Minnie figures on the horizon. The traffic slowed, and so did I. Liam finally breathed again, and as the car came to a more manageable speed, he regained some color back in his cheeks.
Chapter 67
We had almost reached the entrance to the big parking lot when I heard the sound of sirens. I looked in the rearview mirror and could see the red and blue lights blinking in the darkness behind me.
“What the…?”
Soon one police car turned to two, then three, four and five, coming up behind me, sirens blaring, blinking lights on.
“What’s going on?” Liam asked and turned around to see better. I could hear the anxiety in his voice. I couldn’t blame him. His last rendezvous with law enforcement hadn’t exactly ended well.
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to sound as calm as possible. “Maybe something happened inside the Magic Kingdom. I just hope it isn’t Carly they’re here for.”
I looked at my watch. It was seven-thirty. It was too early if the Swatter was keeping to his MO, but I had a nagging feeling that he wasn’t. He had a way of changing things up every time I thought I knew his pattern that I didn’t care for much.
“I…I don’t think they’re here for Carly,” Liam said as two police cars drove up behind us and another two came up in front of us, blocking our way, forcing me to stop. I hit the brakes, and the car came to a sudden halt.
I stared at the blinking lights in front of me and behind me, heart throbbing in my throat.
What was happening?
Police officers emerged from their cars. But they weren’t approaching us the way they usually would at a traffic stop, coming up to my window and asking for license and registration. No, this was different. They were hiding behind the doors, pointing their guns at us.
This freaked me out completely.
Liam was breathing heavily next to me, barely keeping it together. I reached out my hand and placed it on his shoulder.
“It’s gonna be okay, Liam. Just keep your hands up at all times. No matter what you do, don’t lower them, not even if you feel like you can’t possibly hold them up anymore. You have to, okay?”
Liam breathed raggedly. “O-okay.”
I lifted my hands, trying to show them to the officers outside. Liam followed, his hands shaking terribly. This was one moment I wished I had brought Matt instead. I had no badge anymore…no way of proving that I was one of them.
A voice sounded through the darkness. “Step out of the vehicle. Hands in the air. Step out of the vehicle, slowly!”
I shared a glance with Liam, then nodded while letting air out between my teeth. I was fighting to keep it together.
“Okay. We have to get out of here. Just make sure your arms are above your head at all times, okay? We haven’t done anything wrong except for the speeding, but I don’t think that’s what this is about. Are you ready?”
Liam’s eyes were filled with fear. He swallowed, then nodded. I gave him half a smile, trying to seem reassuring, then we both grabbed the door handle on each side and stepped out of the car.
Chapter 68
“We are both unarmed.”
I held my arms above my head, making sure they could see my hands and see that I held nothing in them. Guns were still pointed at us from all sides, and the sight was terrifying, to put it mildly. I knew they’d never show up with this many officers or be this tense if it wasn’t because they believed we posed a significant threat. And that made it even scarier.
Not one wrong move, Eva Rae.
“Keep your hands raised,” someone yelled from behind the police cruisers. “Walk slowly away from the vehicle.”
We did as we were told, keeping our hands up and visible, not even lowering them one bit when my arms began to hurt.
“Drop to your knees,” the voice then yelled, sounding angry and commanding. “Keep the hands where we can see them.”
I did as I was told and sunk to my knees, planting them hard into the asphalt. I didn’t dare turn my head and look at Liam since I couldn’t make any unexpected movements. I just prayed that he was doing the same.
“Keep your hands where I can see them!” the voice yelled again.
My arms were shaking, but I kept them up there.
“Don’t shoot!” Liam yelled. “Please!”
I could hear how scared he was, but I also knew that hearing this often made the police even more uneasy. Th
ey knew that nervous people were more likely to be desperate enough to pull out a gun.
“Stay down!” the voice yelled.
I closed my eyes and bent my head down, heart racing in my chest. I just prayed that they would see Liam Berkeley for the guy he was, or at least the famous chef, instead of just a big black guy that seemed threatening to them.
“Don’t move!”
Keep still, Eva Rae. Just remain completely still no matter what. It’ll be over in a few seconds. They’ll come out from behind the cars, then come up behind you and cuff you. They’ll do the same to Liam, and once they’ve checked that you’re unarmed, they’ll take you to the station. Then you can get this sorted out. You know the drill, Eva Rae. It doesn’t have to end badly.
I took in a couple of deep breaths to make sure to remain calm, telling myself over and over again that it was going to be all right, that we were both going to be fine.
“Stay down! STAY DOWN!”
I heard footsteps and sensed movement, then opened my eyes as the officers approached us. They were holding out their guns and yelling at us from all sides. So much confusion, so much chaos erupted around me; I felt panic rush through my body. I lifted my glance just in time to see the fear in the officer’s eyes who was standing right in front of me, gun pointed directly at me.
That was when the first shot was fired.
The sound was so loud that I instinctively lowered my hands to cover my ears, then started to scream. As the next four shots resounded, I could only think of my kids and the fact that I never got to say goodbye to them.
Chapter 69
POP-POP-POP-POP-POP!
The sound was deafening and devastating at once. I screamed and fell forward, crying for my life. The shots fell, and the bullets whistled above my head, but much to my surprise, I wasn’t hurt.